Yesterday was the All Things Fun Chunin in New Jersey. Despite the fact that a lot of people confirmed they were going, only 15 people showed up. I can think of at least 6 people off the top of my head who said they were going all the way up to the last minute and never showed. Strange. Not a terribly large Chunin but still you want to win it and walk away with the prize support for sure.

As you guys all know, we've been play testing this format a decent amount since Set 16 Release and the general consensus (at least for Josh and myself) is that the 4 most overhyped supers in the Set are generally accepted as jank (Obito, Kakashi, Chidori, and Fear). While Kakashi isn't 100% jank, he's jank when not in a Monofire deck and the versatility other combinations have makes them more favorable than just Recyladori.

I was expecting two packages before this event: 1 Containing all of my Earth cards and some Wind cards. The second containing 2 Tobis, 2 Kakashi, and 2 Chidori. One did not show up. The other showed up however I was informed before I received it that 1 or 2 keycards were missing from it. Awesome! Luckily, Andrew and Nick (Shino's Dad) came through for me with their awesome cards.

Friday rolls around and Andrew shows up late. Again. He swears up and down he's on time but phone logs say differently. Five Guys for dinner. My buddies show up and we get some gaming in, including me finally getting to see the ending to God of War 3. Nick (Zounder) rage quits on Final Fantasy XIII cause he can't beat this boss. He has the boss basically won (he just has to hit square to trigger the cutscene to win)... and at the last second his main character gets blind sided and dies. Heh. Nothing terribly exciting.

Saturday I got up and watched Mighty Morphin Power Rangers cause that's how pros do it. Andrew didn't watch some of it cause he slept in until like 12:30. Nick (Zounder) came over around this point. Went and picked up Nick Botchis (Shino's Dad) from the train station. So now Nick, Nick, Andrew, and I go to Chili's cause Andrew said he'd treat us to lunch. For the record: Don't get the tacos here. Just opt for the fajitas. I mean the tacos were fine and all but why are they sweet? I've never had Mexican food that tastes like candy... very strange. After Andrew pays up and everything we get up and head towards the car. Andrew calls "Shotgun" but Nick Botchis is already on his way to the car and takes the front seat anyway. Andrew stands there and goes "Really? Really? I called shotgun. Really?" for like 3 minutes until finally I tell him get in the back or I'm leaving.

And then I start pulling away.

And he stood there.

And I kept going.

And he stood there.

I stop the car and Zounder is like "Why are you stopping? Just drive!" I should have. Now Botchis gets out of the car and throws up his hands and gives Andrew the seat. We all decide to call him a baby when he gets in the car...and he proceeds to play it off like he's not a whiner. Yes he did just pay for lunch for all of us but come on, holding us up for 5 minutes just so he could get shotgun? Needless to say we all harassed him about this for a while.

Then my buddy Lael shows up again. Perfect Dark was played. And it was fun.

BlazBlue was played. And people complained that I was cheap for using "Combos."

Final Fantasy XIII was played. And there was more rage quitting over stupid fights.

Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 was played. And people complained that my Rock Lee was too much of a pimp.

Everything but the play testing was pretty much done. So everyone leaves and we find ourselves at the like... 1 AM mark...looking at the decks going "Well... ****!" Last minute testing was done, decks assembled and put together. By the time the deck lists were written out and we were off to bed, it's like 4:30 AM. We have to get up at 9:30 to be on time.

So I'm enjoying my 5 hour nap only to be woken up by Shino's Dad snoring. Normally I'd throw something at him but what kind of host would I be if I threw something at someone while they slept in my house? I couldn't decide which was worse... Andrew sounding like a cat while he slept or this. All I knew is I was tired as hell... when I finally got to sleep, I got woken up to let the dogs out. FML.

Arrived at All Things Fun and turn in the deck list:

Player: Pat O'Neill (Tsu Kiyo Me)
Deck Name: "A Target's A Target"
Archtype: Wind/Earth Puppets

As usual, I do not give out my entire deck lists because there are key cards in the deck that need to be used for later events in the Season. You'll just have to guestimate based on the rest.

Round 1 vs. Shino's Dad (Monolightning)
Well... that sucks. Having to play your buddy round 1. We decided to just take the Draw super early and just play test games to warm up for the day. The result ended at 1 game a piece, then we switched decks to try to get a feel for the others deck to see how it works. By the time the round was over, we found out that Andrew had also drawn in time over procedures with his opponent JD (No, not Josh Lu).

That means that no matter what, one of us is going to get screwed next round because there's 4 people with 1 point each. So Round 2 I'm either playing Andrew or JD.

0-0-1

Round 2 vs. JD (Monofire)
JD is a good guy that comes down every once in a while for Locals. When I first met him, he was playing a Tailed Beast Mode deck however he didn't really use the power of Naruto 2K Uzumaki Barrage. After playing me a few times in the past, he started to adapt to the Naruto Dangerous Chakras I was using in the past 2 formats and it was no surprise to me when I saw the Dangerous Chakra in his deck. Lightning, just like expected.

What was a surprise was me playing Long Awaited Reinforcements on turn 2 of the 1st game of the match only to get Sealing Barrier'd immediately after. I looked at him like "Seriously!?" That's never happened before. NEVER. I charged my entire hand to chakra and decided to see if I could sack a win. More importantly, I decided to not scoop to try to figure out if my prediction about the deck being Lightning was indeed correct. Much to my surprise, there were no lightning cards played and Kakashi (Boyhood), Drift, and a few other cards led me to believe it was Fire. I eventually scooped after I had seen enough to get an idea of what to sideboard.

The rest of the match was pretty much a blur to me. I just remember that I did get sacked by 2K Barrage, which prompted me to yell at Zero saying that splashing it wasn't as bad as he was thinking. I clearly just lost to it. He still thought it was bad. All I'll say is karma.

0-1-1

Round 3 vs. Monolightning
One of Eric's friends. I didn't catch his name which is odd cause usually I catch everyone's name. This matchup was pretty much the same as playing against Shino's Dad's deck however it wasn't nearly as optimized. The thing that did throw me for a loop though was the random 5 drop Tailed Beast Naruto. That thing was scary but I still won game 1 with my field presence.

Game 2 was pretty much the same fashion however this time what appeared to be a surefire win was clearly not the case. I have: Injured Ninja in Team 1. Sasori & Crow in team 2. Shino & Kiba, Ebizo & Salamander in team 3. He drops Tailed Beast Mode again. That's fine. Disaster of the Nine Tailed Fox spirit. WAT.

Kills Team 1, injures all of Team 2 and 3. Uses Naruto's effect to destroy Sasori, leaving me with just team 3. He must attack and I still have a 1 up on him in 1 team. I'm at 8 BRs so I must blow. Rasengan's my whole team off the board.

Ughh.

Game 3 I ripped Godly, hit him with Naruto & Hinata, Shino & Kiba, Kankuro, and a jutsu or two all by turn 3. He was forced to scoop up on 4.

1-1-1

Round 4 vs. Luke (Animals)
Luke is someone who I've played before at my local as well. He's a nice guy and I was really happy that he enjoyed reading some of the stuff I've written for Bandai. After some talking, we're allowed to begin. I take a guess based on his first turn Naruto Guard of the Prince that it's animals because that's the only deck I remember him playing. Sure enough, it's Hikaru. We were talking about how he had me beat one time until I dropped Triple Tombs on him with Gaara IP one game. Fun times.

Game 1, we tempo evenly which as you can tell is bad for Animals. I sweep up this game.

Game 2, he's just super aggressive, with I think 5 or 6 Ninja by turn 1. Yeeeeouch. I try to hold on as long as possible but Baki can't really do anything vs. 3 teams of 2. Itachi GiG comes down to score him a few BRs and win it for him.

Game 3 was very much like game 2. Things weren't looking good until I pay a chakra with Michiru and draw into my bomby animals hate cards which allow me to completely rip through his defenses and win in the next turn or two.

2-1-1

Surprisingly after all this I make Top Cut. Zero wins by round 3 and I still top? Ridiculous.

Top 8:
8. MJM's Cousin - ??? (Assumed to be Fire)
7. Tsu Kiyo Me - Wind/Earth
6. Squee - Monofire (???)
5. Andrew Kardis - Monowind
4. JD - Monofire
3. Nick - Monowater
2. Andrew C. - Medical Kunoichi
1. MJM - Monowater

I believe those are the standings + their decks. Correct me if I'm wrong. I originally thought there was Lightning in there but I guess I'm wrong.

Top 8 vs. Andrew C. (Medical Kunoichi)
Andrew is one of JD's friends and probably one of the nicest people I've met at All Things Fun. Always pleasant to talk with and play against, I was really looking forward to an interesting game. My signature Sakura Cards + Sakura Mat was a decent foreshadowing of what I was about to face given his remarks and also what he was asking me to borrow earlier in the day... this was indeed going to be against a Sakura Haruno based deck. She may be my <3 <3 <3 but I'm not going to lose to her, that's for sure.

Game 1 I believe he got the ShizTon combo out...I do remember though I had a team of all 3+ Ninja and because I was puppets... I clearly had the bigger team. He attempts a jutsu in desperation with Sakura at some point, but I simply just Concealed Weapon her. Even though he got out his secret tech Sasuke Cold Headed, things just went very smoothly.

Game 2 I hit Naruto & Hinata against him, setting him back. Then I hit Ebizo and pick up Salamander. He drops Sakura and I simply Arbitrate her for Salamander. Temari & Kankuro next turn to limit the hand. And he has a field of 1 of ninja so Baki comes down and cleans up.

After, I made some adjustments to his deck and gave him recommendations. By no means do I believe females are bad. I am by far one of their biggest supporters, however they are somewhat frail and need specific builds in order to gain consistency and good performance. It is probably the 4th or 5th best deck at the moment in my eyes.

Andrew loses in the first round of Top cut to JD because he got sacked by 2K Barrage. I called it! Karma! HA HA! Squee loses to his teammate Nick. MJM wins against his Cousin.

Round 4 vs. Nick (Monowater)
Nick from Squee's Play Group was my only legitimate loss at the Mist Kage back in June of 2009. The only other loss at the event was me forfeiting to Andrew Kardis in the last round or so of the Kage. I've played him a few times since then and I know for a fact this was going to be one tough game.

Game 1: He manages to Tobi about 4 times in a span of 2 turns. (Triple Tobi and then Ninja info cards) I go get Hinata off my bug coin via Substitute turn 1. Using his player priority afterwards, he Sealing Barriers and calls Naruto Uzumaki blindly. He asks "Did I get it?" Apparently he didn't know how crazy Naruto Hinata was before this event and has been making it a point to just go for Naruto or Hinata when the opposite is dropped. So there goes my 3 Prince Narutos :( But it doesn't matter cause I still curve out perfectly with Kiba, Shikamaru, Kankuro, and Baki to just wail on him and end it on turn 4.

Game 2: I attempt a Tobi knowing full well he has Sealing Barrier in hand, trying to get him to waste it. No take. I play Kiba knowing full well there's Akamaru in my hand. I play dumb and fail to find a search target. Then I deploy Naruto knowing full well that he'll attempt to try to get either Michiru or Hinata after this play. I fail to find a Michiru (which was also already in my hand). At this point he's feeling pretty sure of himself when I substitute and fetch Hinata, Naruto & Hinata him on my turn 2 into 3. Then next turn I squad into Shino & Kiba, discard the Akamaru, draw 2, and then play Michiru. The look on his face was like "What?" 4 Sealing Barrier Targets, he whiffed all of them. However, Kisame from EA comes down and he causes problems. My terrible selecting off of LAR + Second Hokage Matchless Hero to prevent a Jutsu rally costs me the game.

Game 3: The game goes to time in on turn 1. We are tied at BRs. I drop Naruto GotP and search for Michiru. I confirm that I do indeed have the last attack of the game. I have 2 Wind Chakra from substitute (which I used to get Kiba off a bug coin). I charge the two other missions in my hand + the michiru giving me 2 cards in hand, 5 chakra, 2 of which is wind. Pressing onward with Shion, Naruto, and Shino. He blocks. I fear by Genjutsu to get through for the last BR, holding Wind Scythe in case he has something else to stop me. Winnar!

Top 2 vs. JD Monofire
Considering Andrew had to leave, the store needed to start closing ASAP, and JD is my good buddy who had never gotten this far, he and I decided to just split the prizing and I let him have the pin since I can no longer get one.

Congrats to JD on his first Chunin win!

Afterwards, we headed to the parking lot where there was a fight over shotgun. An actual fight. Headlocks. Punches. Knees. Good times.

We went back to my house with my 36 blister backs to pack poker, 12 each. Highlights of my pulls:

-2 x Sasuke [Finishing Blow]
-1 x Yamato [Control by Fear]
-1 x Bashfulness
-1 x Sakura Haruno & Tsunade Squad
-1 x Orochimaru [Forbidden Jutsu]
-1 x Approaching Showdown
-Tonton Foil
-Sasuke Uchiha [Severing the Bond] foil
-Hinata [Reserved Character] foil
-Kakashi Childhood foil
Lots of Baki/Sasuke/good stuff non-foil

Also got another Sakura Meijin Mat, giving me 2. Unsure if I want to trade it but I guess if the offer was good enough . . .

After Andrew left, Nick and I decided to watch Downfall before turning in for the night. If you don't know what it is, you can watch this clip: Click Here. (Warning! This movie is rated R and as such some material is not suitable for all audiences)

Woke up crazy early to take Nick back to the train, only to go back to work in the morning.

Well at least I won another Chunin!

Labels: AllThingsFun, Chunin, I Heart Lightning, reports, tsu